On 4 December 2020, Ambassador Mr. Béla Fazekas and Mr. Zafar Masud, President of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) signed a sponsorship agreement for the restoration of ten paintings of Hungarian painter August Schoefft (1809-1888), which belong to the Princess Bamba collection in the Lahore Fort. The paintings will be restored to their original condition by Hungarian experts.
Mr. Zafar Masud emphasized that the BoP had always been at the forefront of discharging corporate social responsibility initiatives. He underlined that the BoP gives utmost importance to the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of the country. A clear demonstration to that is the support to the restoration of the paintings in joint Hungarian-Pakistani cooperation.
The Hungarian Head of Mission highlighted that the restoration of the Schoefft’s paintings opens a new chapter not only in the history of the rich collection but also in the two centuries old history of the Hungarian cultural presence in the Punjab. The main beneficiaries of the project – by far the most important one of our bilateral cultural cooperation- will be the Pakistani people, who gain back an iconic piece of their cultural heritage in its original splendid grandeur.
